Field
This disclosure relates to controlling data traffic flow between dual ended transmission control protocol (TCP) performance enhancement proxies (PEPs).
Description of the Related Art
Internet Protocol (IP), is the principal communications protocol in the Internet protocol suite for relaying datagrams across network boundaries of the Internet. IP enables the delivery of packets from the source host to the destination host solely based on the IP addresses in the packet headers. IP defines packet structures that encapsulate the data to be delivered. It also defines addressing methods that are used to label the datagram with source and destination information. Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) is another one of the fundamental protocols of the Internet Protocol suite. TCP provides reliable, ordered, and error-checked delivery of a stream of octets between applications running on hosts communicating by an IP network. The suite or combination of IP and TCP is commonly referred to as TCP/IP.
Networks of the Internet may include local area networks (LANs) which may connect the computers in a limited area such as a building such as using Ethernet and Wi-Fi technologies. The networks may also include wide area networks (WANs) which can connect computers and LANs over a large geographic distance such as using telecommunications network, computer network, leased line, cellular and/or satellite communication technology. In one sense, the Internet is a giant WAN.
The data capacity of a data link between two computers connected over one or more of such networks can be described by a bandwidth-delay product (BDP), which is the product of a data link's data bandwidth capacity (e.g., BW, typically, in some multiple of bits per second) and its round-trip delay time (e.g., RTT, in seconds). A link can be fat (high BW) or thin (low BW) and may also be short (low RTT) or long (high RTT). Links that are fat and long have the highest BDP. Examples of high BDP transmission links are those across satellites or enterprise wide area networks (WANs) that include intercontinental optical fiber links. This is because the connections that join the endpoints of these networks may be quite “fat,” but the distances traveled by the data is quite “long” resulting in higher BDP. Satellite connections in particular have inherently high RTT due to the process of transmitting the signal out into space and back down to the Earth.
Because satellite connections are high BDP, a user reliant upon these connections may have a negative browsing, application or other network-related experience due to the extended delays, no matter the available bandwidth (which is usually quite large in satellite connections). In satellite and other high BDP data links, overcoming these high RTT delays to provide a better experience for users would be beneficial.
Throughout this description, elements appearing in figures are assigned three-digit reference designators, where the most significant digit is the figure number and the two least significant digits are specific to the element. An element that is not described in conjunction with a figure may be presumed to have the same characteristics and function as a previously-described element having a reference designator with the same least significant digits.